Pavilion to be dedicated in Coitsville

COITSVILLE -- A pavilion originally built at the boyhood home of William Holmes McGuffey will be dedicated at 2 p.m. Sunday at the pavilion's new location on Begala Drive near McCartney Road.
The dedication falls on the 201st anniversary of McGuffey's birth. McGuffey, a Pennsylvania-born Ohio educator, was a developer of educational materials, McGuffey Eclectic Readers. He died in 1873.
The pavilion, built in 1996, was relocated last year and is being leased to the Coitsville Historical Society for 30 years for $1 a year.
Society President Dorothy Morse said the pavilion is the first outdoor classroom erected by the township.
It was removed after the McGuffey homesite was turned into a nature preserve last year.
Construction on the pavilion's roof and concrete was done, for free, by New Castle School of Trades students.
Cake and refreshments will be available at the dedication.
Visitors to the pavilion site and the McGuffey homestead will be invited to plant flowers or bulbs in specified areas in memory of victims of the terrorist attacks Sept. 11.
Morse said flowers may be planted on a 100 foot-wide plot on the north side of the glacial rock at the Pavilion site and anywhere in the heart-shaped flower garden of the homestead property.
Next year, she said, the historical society hopes to add a children's area to the pavilion park.